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FAQ Frequently Asked Questions These pages were last edited 28/12/98 |
FAITH BELIEVING The meaning of the word believe in John 3:16 is to believe, to trust, to place confidence in, according to the Strongs definition. You will agree that it has a deeper meaning than that of the usual usage in English which mostly means simply to believe that something is or is so. In this study we will set out to discover what it is that God expects when He inspires the words of the following texts:
Habakkuk 2:4 comes in the midst of a prophesy, but makes a plain statement concerning values for any age. It contrasts the believer with the unbeliever. The unbeliever invariably is haughty denying any reliance upon a Father-creator. He is independent, aloof. The believer on the other hand is totally dependent and absolutely convinced that he only may live as the Lord gives to him for every need. The Habbakkuk verse above is interpreted in a number of ways by various authorities, however in the end the Scripture interprets itself as we see in the quoted instances in the New Testament (Ro 1:17; Ga 3:11; Heb 10:38). Without question when we study the New Testament verses we can see that faith, or total dependence upon God, is the distinguishing factor of those who belong to God. In fact God demands that those who belong to Him exercise faith.
There is an imperative that every believer trust Him for all his needs as we saw in the first four verse we selected above the just shall live by faith. There is no alternative for the believer.
In our tent-making business of sign production our family prays together every day before we begin work because we acknowledge that we are totally dependent upon our gracious Father to supply all our need according to His riches in Christ Jesus. When the need is greater the supply increases when the need is less the supply is adjusted accordingly. When God's people rebel against this order they rebel against God. There is no way to be in the will of God and out of it at the same time. We cannot obey God a little bit or a lot, we either obey God or disobey Him and when there is conflict within ourselves, over trusting God for supply of all our need, it is invariably because of lust.
So let us remember and learn the lesson which others have paid for on our behalf. If we are to please God we must live by faith.
HOW BIBLICAL FAITH IS OBTAINED
We see from this verse that biblical faith is believing that what ever God says He will do, He will do. Another verse supports this concept and focuses our attention upon the source of the power for fulfilment and the purpose of God in godly or biblical faith:
So if we know and understand what it is that God has promised or commanded we are able to believe implicitly that He will bring it to pass.
HOW TO DEFINE BIBLICAL FAITH It is necessary to qualify exactly what we mean by faith because there are abuses, or false doctrines, in the church today concerning faith. In every case where false doctrine is taught within the church it depends upon either taking the Word of God out of context thus distorting the meaning or superimposing concepts which are foreign to the Scriptures altogether. In nearly every case of error, if one has an adequate knowledge of the Word, falsehood may be detected by comparing Scripture with Scripture. Before we go on let us state that with God, as with those of we humans who have integrity, when ever a statement is made, a promise, a condition, the qual-ification of that statement depends upon previously laid or wholly implied basic rules stated in the Word of God. For example Jesus makes the statement:
There are some who teach on the basis of this verse and one or two others in similar vein, a Midas touch doctrine of supernatural supply. Name it and claim it they say, teaching that we can speak what ever we want into existence as though God has made us co-creators with Himself. However there is a prior rule which exists to moderate our behaviour here if or desire is to be obedient rather than only to be rich.
You may say how is this rule prior when it was written by James into the inspired text at a later date. Firstly any rule of God is universal, unless it is specifically directed toward a particular group or individual, since He is eternal and invariable (Jas 1:17). Secondly Jesus taught the disciples that when the Holy Spirit came He would bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14 26) Thus we know that the teachings of the Apostles were also the teachings of Jesus. Thirdly we know from a careful study of the sermon on the mount (Matt 5:1-12; 38-42;6:1-4; 19-21; 24-34) that selfish claiming of material goods is contrary to all that He wants for us. We have said in essence that faith is believing that what God says He will do since faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.(Rom 10:17)
HOW DO I KNOW FOR SURE WHEN GOD SPEAKS? If as we have seen in the preceding division faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, how does the believer know without a doubt when God directs him? In my boyhood I used to be captivated by the idea of discovering gold. I had read about it and was excited by the prospect that, as my father told me when I asked on many occasions, that "gold is where you find it." It could be anywhere. But how did one recognise it, because I had also heard of fools gold and I did not want to be digging for something that was worthless. Since then I have seen nuggets both pure gold nuggets and gold imbedded in various kinds of rock. The strange thing about gold is that men get a fervor about finding it, such an emotional fervor that experienced fossickers have under stress been misled by fools gold. The word of God for the individual believer is something akin to gold. Jesus said in John 10:27:
This is reassuring to us when we know that the Lord is our security for eternity. We know that we will never be led astray by the voice of the Good Shepherd. How is it then that in Scripture we see those who have known the Lord intimately going astray? Peter was called three times from his fishing and once was rebuked to his face by Paul for hypocrisy (Mark 1:16 Luke 5:1-11; John 21:3-22; Gal 2:11-14) Paul on the other hand, being led by the Lord on his second missionary journey, wanted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit would not let them or did not permit them. How could he try to do something out of God's will? Experience tells us today that there are many misled people throughout the church. Leaders and followers alike. Prophesies are given which fall to the ground. Teachers espouse a faith which fails. One dear brother pastor had children die in his church and he himself died refusing simple medical help because he believed no one should apply to medical doctors for help unless they lacked faith. We do not criticise his commitment, nor in many other ways his understanding of truth and sound doctrine, but we have to say that, in this, his error was in his application of the doctrine of faith. On the other hand there are testimonies of those who under the pressure of impossible opposition have seen miracles of healing, creative healing, even people raised from the dead in the wake of incredible faith. These people believed God in the face of incredible criticism and enormous physical and spiritual opposition. The answer is simple, we must know how to wait for and discern the voice of God. If God actually tells us that the sick person will get well, or the dead person will rise up, or that we should go here or do that, we can expect Him to supply the necessary miracle. I heard Yongi Cho Korean pastor, at that time, of the largest church in the world once testify. At a certain meeting at which he was speaking he distinctly heard the Lord's voice direct him to call the blind and deaf people in the meeting forward for healing. Having never seen healings of this kind before he was more than a little hesitant, but nevertheless he called the people forward. All were amazed when the blind saw and the deaf ears opened. So great was the success of this ministry that at the next meeting in another place he eagerly called forward the deaf and blind again as before. This time however when he prayed nothing happened. He confessed that he learned a lesson that day which was basically what we have been trying to set forth here, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The believer must wait for God's instruction on every issue of faith. When God does not direct we must not go. We count all inactivity as indolence or procrastination, but when God has not spoken or sent doing nothing is called resting. To be about doing things actively for God which He has not directed us to do is just as disobedient as refusing to move when He is sending us. It is so important that we receive instructions at every step of the way.
KNOWING THE WORD - THE BIBLE Knowing the Word requires an open heart with a non sectarian attitude. Many of us receive good teaching. Teachers themselves need the input of others who are steeped in the Word. It stimulates their own thinking. However there is today a partisan spirit abroad. People who belong to a teacher or to a denomination rather that to the Lord. If the teacher or the church teaches differently than something they see in the Word of God, they stay with the denominational position, or with the view of the teacher. If we do not put what we clearly see in the Word of God first how can we expect God to keep us from failure in the walk? Certainly we must be very careful before we discard traditional doctrines and teaching. We must be very sure that we are not moving into error ourselves. But after all, of the Word of God teaches differently than tradition it is time for the tradition to go. As faithful believers we ought to listen to preachers, tapes, read books and commentaries. But we should read and listen to all Christian sources along with our Bibles. Too many of us listen or read only within the boundaries defined by our particular "guru" or denomination. If there were only one main stream of doctrine as it was in the New testament Church. THE APOSTLES COULD CORRECT OUR WANDERINGS They however have long since gone to glory, but they have left us the legacy of their writings and they alone are the final authority on doctrinal truth:
1 John 4:1 Although John here is dealing with a specific subject which related to the first recipients of this letter, the core teaching of this passage is:
Note that the teaching this passage tells us these three things. Firstly that every spirit which is of God confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. The spirit that denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. For the most part the readers of John's epistle had to take the word of the apostles that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. The acceptance or denial of this doctrine determines the genuine from the counterfeit. (vss 2,3) Secondly there is a spirit of antichrist. That is an active misleading spirit behind teaching in the Christian Church that is setting out deliberately to mislead the people of God (vs 3) Thirdly because we are of God and have the Spirit of God dwelling within us (v4) we have overcoming power to overcome the deceivers, by applying ourselves to the doctrine of the apostles and are thus able to discern truth and error (vss 4-6). Now it is not as simple as applying this short passage to all situations, but here we have the basis for sound procedures. That is we must know the apostle's teaching. This includes the Old Testament as well as the New since Jesus our High Priest and Apostle (Heb 3:1) endorsed all the Old Testament Scriptures in His own teaching. For instance we note in 1John 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. This does not mean that as long as a teacher claims that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for the sins of the world, that he a reliable teacher. The Jehovah's Witnesses teach this. It does not mean that if a person confesses that Jesus is the Son of God that is all there is to it on a number of occasions demon spirits cried out like this Lu 4:41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking [them] suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. If this is true then there must be a larger meaning to what is being said here. Throughout the whole of the epistle of 1John we are being taught the marks of the true believer. Certainly if one confesses Jesus Christ on the terms of Romans 10:9,10, and also James 2 for starters and then embracing God's truth in the context of the whole teaching of the apostles (i.e. Genesis to Revelation) one is a true believer. We will never understand or take it all in but we must diligently work at knowing the Word of God.
BELIEVERS SHOULD PRACTISE ERROR DETECTION Knowing the Word does not refer to academic excellence however it does imply careful and consistent reading. Knowing the word invariably requires wide reading in order to practise error detection every believer should be critical when it comes to interpretations. Knowing the Word has absolutely nothing to do with divine revelatory interpretation as a substitute for exegesis. The Scripture determines this in 2Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing [handling] the word of truth. Interpretation of the Word comes from hard work and an open attitude to truth. Certainly the Holy Spirit will help and guide your study, warning and encouraging as in everything the believer does. However God expects every believer to do his own work (Gal 6:4,5). Knowing the Word is available to every normal believer. We mean by this that unless a person has some impediment which impairs the power of thought or the ability to read, that every one who is able to read and understand plain language is able to read and understand the Word of God with balance. As long as they read all of it. The problem comes from those who study it to discover "exciting new and hidden truths". They espouse doctrines which cannot be supported by a wider reading of the context of those passages from which they quote.
THERE ARE VARYING DEGREES OF FAITH While there cannot be varying degrees of obedience, there are however, varying degrees of faith or the ability to trust God. However having said this, it does not follow that a young Christian has less faith and an older Christian more faith. Experience compares with the record of the Word to show that sometimes a new believer has more faith than an older believer. In the following passage we note that the father's faith was in tact because the Lord healed the boy. It was the disciples to whom Jesus remarked faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you... They were rebuked because of unbelief. Jesus said they did not even have faith as a grain of mustard seed.
Here is another passage that indicates that there are degrees of faith and shows that the disciples had not yet realised the importance and significance of it
In the following passage Jesus is looking for total commitment from Martha but does not receive it:
Martha is prepared to exercise her faith only to a limited degree. Jesus challenges her to state her belief in Him as the Resurrection, that he as the Anointed of God had the power to deliver from death. Would she trust Him to raise her brother Lazarus from the dead now the event was three days past? She was prepared to believe that He could have prevented her brother's death, but she could not come to the point of believing that He was able and willing to restore the life of her brother. Why is it that we will believe at one level but not the next? Because there are two levels of believing, for those things we have seen and for those we have not seen.
When we remember that there had never been a universal flood in the memory of man on the earth. More than that if we remember that the rainbow was only seen after the flood this indicates that men had never ever seen rain on the earth, so there had never ever been any kind of flood water known to man. Jesus distinguishes these two levels to Thomas and the disciples also:
THAT BELIEVERS MAY BELIEVE 1Jo 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
True faith is also about developing the miracle of the transformation of the believer from unrighteousness to righteousness. Romans 1 continues to describe the downward path of those who have a basic knowledge of God, but continue in unrighteousness. There is always a progression in an either upward or downward direction. It is God's purpose that we go from faith to faith. So God wants to bring miraculous changes in our bodies through healing, in our lifestyle through supplying our need in our ministries through supplying the needs of others, but most of all in our spiritual life by transforming us into the image of His Son. 2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord. |